August 15, 2014

SPENT MY BIRFDAY DOING WHAT I LOVE: FART JOKES!

Here all month. Here's a review:

Provincetown Magazine's Steve Desroches: "She looks like Dusty Springfield after a hard nigh tof drinking. She dances like Goldie Hawn with the runs. She sings like Bobbie Gentry with strep throat. It’s Lady Bunny, the legendary drag queen with a mountain of blond hair, top and bottom lashes that could cause a hurricane when she blinks, and a set of gams that would make Ann Miller jealous, if she wasn’t dead. After visiting Provincetown for quick hits of late night appearances at the Atlantic House, Lady Bunny is presenting her very first show in town, bringing her bawdy humor and psychedelic infused stage spectacle to the storied nightclub.

In this era of extreme political correctness, oversensitivity, and allergies to everything from soup to nuts to ethnic jokes, it’s hard to describe Lady Bunny’s show without wading into the waters of offensiveness. It doesn’t take much to elicit a letter from GLAD calling you transphobic or to light up the Twittersphere with boo-hoos and hurt feelings. Comedy, good comedy, makes you think, and laughter heals. Lady Bunny is smart and it shows. That being said, Lady Bunny’s show is also completely retarded. Yes, it’s the “R” word, but before anyone gets mad and calls Timothy Shriver, consider this: 1) if that word used in a joke offends you, then Lady Bunny will have you in a puddle of tears by the time her show is over, and 2) lighten up, because if a drag queen using that word in a joke is more offensive to you than the fact that because of Congress’ inaction special needs programs across America face budget cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars, then you might be part of the problem.

To explain further, to use that description to capture the aura of Lady Bunny’s That Ain’t No Lady is meant to be of the highest praise as she takes toilet humor and fart jokes and elevates them to a hilarious art form. Seriously. Truly. She go-go dances around stage and drops jaw-dropping one-liners and ingenious song parodies so that by the time she is done, she has mentioned every bodily fluid and function known to medical science and you’re shocked at the glorious gross-out humor and the sophisticated scatological sensibility she brings to the stage. It takes a special talent to deliver a musical homage to smegma that will have you singing along.

In all seriousness, an evening with Lady Bunny is time spent with someone who knows how to quickly take everyone down to a level that elevates everyone to a place where laughter is the currency and every topic is for sale. That Ain’t No Lady is a carnival of sequined diarrhea jokes and tastelessly tasseled put-downs of today’s vapid celebrity culture that would make Joan Rivers say, “Now why didn’t I think of that!?” (Rivers herself makes a shockingly funny video appearance roasting Lady Bunny during the show.)

Celebrated for her stage shows, film appearances, as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag U, and especially as the founder of the drag festival Wigstock, Lady Bunny has specially tailored her show for Provincetown, with references to such important cultural institutions and landmarks as the Dick Dock and whatever Commercial Street shrubbery she’s pulled her latest trick into. That Ain’t No Lady is not just Lady Bunny at her best, but also an example of how Provincetown’s performance scene continues to be dynamic and robust, pulling incredible talent from all over the country to our tiny spit of sand way out in the Atlantic Ocean.

By the way the show is totally, totally transphobic. But save your outraged letters for Congress and not Lady Bunny. Her jokes do way more to help the cause than any Senator ever has."

Lady Bunny presents That Ain’t No Lady at the Atlantic House, 4-6 Masonic Place, Thursday through Saturday at 8:30 p.m. through August 30. Tickets ($19.99) are available at the door. For more information call 508.487.3169.